LOL. Your first thread and it is about how expensive the hobby has become? Such a topic nearly violates the Forum Rules.
No matter. Take a look at the pre-order for the Walthers Super Chief - El Capitan four loco consist and 11-car consist plus 4 add-on cars. Almost two grand.
Rich
Alton Junction
There are still plenty of Athearn blue box cars and locos available if that is what you like. Their prices are somewhat higher than in the eighties, but what isn't.
Mark Vinski
We had a thread awhile ago by someone who regreted getting in the hobby because the money he spent, but he felt he was also trapped in the hobby, because of the money he spent. I suggest you not follow in his footsteps.Like the weather, there isn't anything we can do about the problem..
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
bgibbs1000 ... Locos were reasonably priced also... I just don't see it, especially since it is all being made overseas by cheap labor...
... Locos were reasonably priced also... I just don't see it, especially since it is all being made overseas by cheap labor...
Reasonable and cheap. Relative, and evolving. IOW, all moot.
Yes I know it has been discussed at length before through the years. I also guess you can call me a returning hobbyist. I dabbled in it back in the late 1980s and can remember purchasing the old Athearn Blue Box kits, many of which were $5 or less. Seems the detail was even better. You got sliding doors on many of the box cars, which you don't see much of any more. No you didn't get the magnetic couplers or metal wheels but the cost to add those was minimal. Locos were reasonably priced also. Yeah I know DCC can jack up the cost on those but still $250 for an Athearn Genesis or Scale Trains Rivet Counter. And good grief some rolling stock in HO runs over $50. I just don't see it, especially since it is all being made overseas by cheap labor.
Seems to me for what they charge on rolling stock you should at least be able to order multiple items of the same stock number and get different road numbers, but no you can't even do that. I guess I am just one those returning hobbiest who has really been hit by sticker shock.